Canon Unveils Details About New EOS 5D Mark III

Photographers have waited more than two years for Canon to announce the follow-up to the Mark II. Today, the company finally unveiled the EOS 5D Mark III, a significant upgrade from its predecessor.

The biggest changes are the new 22.3-megapixel CMOS sensor and the DIGIC 5+ imaging processor, which Canon says is 17 times faster than the DIGIC 4 in the Mark II. Wedding photographers will also be happy to hear about the camera’s ability to capture Raw image files at 10.5 megapixels and 5.5 megapixels — perfect for when you need the benefits of Raw but don’t want to clog up your memory card.

The Mark III borrows the 61-point autofocus system from the EOS-1D X, a huge upgrade from the Mark II’s nine-point autofocus system. You can also now shoot continuously at six frames per second, topping the old rate of three. The standard ISO range has also been bumped up to 100 to 25,600.

Video hasn’t been ignored. Now you can capture 1080p HD video for 30 uninterrupted minutes instead of having to stop every 12 minutes like before. The Mark III also features a headphone jack so you can monitor sound as you record video.

As expected, this bad boy is not cheap. The body itself has retail price of $3,499; for a kit including a EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM zoom lens, you’ll probably have to pony up $4,299.

For those looking to save a little money, it might be a good time to consider the Mark II. Canon told USA Today that the camera would stay in production; with prices already hovering around $2,000 on eBay, who knows much they’ll cost when the Mark III premieres at the end of the month.